


Perfect Illusion

by Jazzy_AE



Series: Holding Out for a Hero [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: CEO Oliver Queen, F/M, once an isabitch always an isabitch, the budding olicity of season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-11 07:39:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18426036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jazzy_AE/pseuds/Jazzy_AE
Summary: In this version of season two, Felicity give Oliver a but more push back on her “promotion.”





	Perfect Illusion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [onecrazydreamer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/onecrazydreamer/gifts).



> Hello @1-crazy-dreamer. I’m your gifter. Out of the many wonderful choices to pick from, I always came back to this one. The way such a simple moment is capture that show so much about our favorite couple is amazing. Also the fact, I always love to read season 2. This GIF set captures everything that I love about season 2. Thank you @1-crazy-dreamer for all of the time and hard work you put into you GIFs. It’s been great getting to know you more on the Olicity FAMdom Discord.
> 
> Gif set: http://1-crazy-dreamer.tumblr.com/post/183030275901/olicity-aesthetic

“Oliver, if you think that I’m going to take this position, you’re fucking crazy,” Felicity shouted towards Oliver.  Her heels clicked against the tiled floor as she tried to keep up with Oliver’s long strides in her restricting pencil skirt.

“I understand your concern,” Oliver started. Diggle opened the door to Oliver’s new office, so they could continue this conversation in his private office. “I don’t want it to become a big deal if the CEO, Oliver Queen, has to visit an IT girl every five minutes for our nightly business. You being my executive assistant will be better.” He leaned against his desk, arms crossing over his broad chest.

“I rather enjoy how we spend our nights.” She let out a sigh and counted back from ten in her head. “Oliver, I don’t think you understand how much worse it will be if you ‘promote,’” Felicity said in air quotes, “me to become your executive assistant. I’ll be the secretary that slept her way to the top. I may be from Vegas, but I am most certainly not that kind of girl.”

“Felicity, I know that. Dig knows that-”

She cuts him off by poking his chest and stepping closer to him. “Well frankly, after the Head of Applied Science had to resign because of the Undertaking, that position would be much more suitable for my qualifications,” Felicity moved back, smirking up at him. “if you want me on the executive floor.”

Oliver stared at her mouth open. Unable to form words.

Dig let out a snort. “Well played, Miss Smoak.” He gave Oliver a glance as the two seemed to be in a starring match. “Felicity is right. Her talents would be wasted as your EA, but that doesn’t mean she can’t be moved up here. Any of the IT higher ups could see that she is way too valuable to still be a low-level IT girl.” Diggle moved from his place at the door and sat down on the couch on the other side of the office. “It would be a wise decision for QC if they moved one of the company’s most innovative minds to head the revamped Applied Sciences.  _And_  it would make one co-CEO look very good in the eyes of the board.”

“Very well. Felicity, I’ll contact HR to see if they can send up a new set of paperwork for you.”  Oliver was amused by this turn of events. “In the meantime, I need you to look into whose hitting those hospital drug shipments.”

“I’ll get right on it, Mr. Queen.”

Several hours later, Oliver visited her new office. She already had notes sprawled out across the desk and her handwriting was scribbled throughout the margins of numerous blueprints. Felicity’s heels were kicked to the side of the desk, already switched out with the comfortable flats she kept in the office.

“Is there something you need, Mr. Queen?” Felicity’s assistant asked, interrupting his overview of Felicity’s office.

“No, Miss…” Oliver gave the short Latina woman a quick once over, trying to see if he should remember her name from previous QC engagements or “Ollie Queen” parties. She looked very put together in a black button up and pastel pink slacks.

“Ms. Alverez,” the assistant sighed as she adjusted the folders in her arms, “Miss Smoak is in a meeting with HR about the promotion. Do I need to let her know that you stopped by, Mr. Queen?”

“No need, Ms. Alverez. I just wanted to see how she was getting settled. Will you let my assistant know when she returns to her office?”

“Certainly, Mr. Queen.” She turned back towards her desk on the opposite side of the hall. “If you need anything else from Miss Smoak, I’ll be right across the hall. so you can know if she is in the office or not. Just so you don’t have to waste any time.” Ms. Alverez smiled and looked back at Oliver, “I know you wanted her to be your EA, but that was a mistake. She’s been in this position for only a few hours and she already has a great vision for Applied Sciences.”

Oliver was taken aback by the frankness of Felicity’s Assistant, “What did you say your name was Ms. Alverez?” While he wasn’t used to being talked to in this way as the CEO, he’s happy Felicity has an assistant that sticks up for her.

“Sophia.”

“Well, Sophia, I’m glad we can agree that Miss Smoak is right where she needs to be. And if you weren’t so protective of her already, I’d ask you to be my EA.”

“I’m right where I want to be, Mr. Queen. But thank you for the offer. I might know someone else who might be up for the position though.”

“If they are anything like you then feel free to send me their resume so I can consider them for the position.” Oliver took a few steps down the hall before turning back. “Have a good day, Sophia. I hope to don’t get too tired of my face, I’ll be around a lot.”

Oliver heard the clacking of Felicity’s keyboard before he saw her. “Felicity, do you have any updates on the drug shipments?”

“None since you last asked me 20 minutes ago,” Felicity snapped, “but I  _did_  find a link between the drug trafficking and the movement of a large cache of weapons about to be sold in the Glades.”

“What is the connection between the two?” Diggle asked with sweat dripping from his brow as he walked over from the training area.

“Well, besides the fact that I’m a genius who wrote an algorithm for this, Roy also gave me a tip that the low-lives of the Triad want to sell them to a new player in town. I just don’t know the who yet.”

“I’ll tell Roy to be careful. I don’t want Thea in the middle of a gang war because of Roy’s snooping,” Oliver said, “especially if the club comes under fire for it.”

“Oh, by the way, I heard that you tried to steal my assistant today.”

Diggle gave Oliver a shake of his head as he went back to the training mats.

“That’s not true! I just visited your office to see if you were there, and you weren’t. Sophia was, and we talked about you.”

“So, your talking shit about me to my assistant behind my back,” Felicity teased.

“Quite the opposite, actually.”

Felicity’s eyebrow raised, “What do you mean?”

“Your assistant is a badass and already very protective of you. I commented on that and jokingly said that if she weren’t so protective of you, then she should be my EA.”

“I only met her when I set up my office, but she seemed nice.”

Isabel stomped into Oliver’s office the next morning with smoke coming out of her ears. Her heels echoed off the tile as she marched up to his desk. “Why the hell is an IT girl now the head of Applied Science?”

His temporary EA rushed in right behind her, face full of worry, “Sorry, Mr. Queen. I told her you were just about to make an important call to our office in London.” She glared at Isabel before turning back to him.

“It’s fine, Mrs. Smith. Can you get me a summary of our projected earnings in London  while I talk with Ms. Rochev?” Mrs. Smith nodded before waling back to her desk, leaving Oliver to Isabel’s wrath. “Now, how can I help you, Ms. Rochev?”

“Well, I got an email from HR that the position for Head of Applied Sciences got filled yesterday.”

“Yes, it did. Felicity Smoak from the IT department got the position,” Oliver said calmly.

“And what exactly are her qualifications?” Isabel sneered. “She’s been in the IT department for years.”

“She graduated from MIT with a dual masters in computer science and cyber security. I recommended her for the position, and HR agreed after they heard her vision for the division. She was the best candidate for the job out of all the ones they screened. They were looking to promote someone in the company rather than hire from the outside anyway, so now they can show the board that we still have valuable employees after the undertaking.” Oliver saw the way that her jaw was twitching. “Do you have a problem with that, Ms. Rochev?”

“Not at all,” she huffed, “and don’t forget Mr. Queen, we have a board meeting this afternoon.”

“I’m well aware, Ms. Rochev. I  _am_  the one who scheduled it, after all. I wanted a chance for the board to be properly introduced to the new Head of Applied Sciences.”

“I look forward to seeing you in the board meeting,” Mrs. Smith said as she held the door open for her. Isabel hurriedly made her way out of the room. “Mr. Queen, here is the summary you asked for. London should be on the line in 10 minutes.”

“Please call me Oliver.” He rubbed his hand over his face before grabbing the document from her, “How can you be so civil to her?”

“Oliver, it’s part of my job.” She gave him a smile, “Call me Jane.”

“Well, Jane, you’re a better person than I am.”

Diggle, Felicity, and Oliver were at Big Belly Burger for lunch to prep for the board meeting, also to stay away from Isabel. Felicity munched happily on her fries as Oliver went through the main points that the board would bring up.

“I told you that if you continue with this, it will not end well for your sex life, Roy,” Thea said as she entered Big Belly Burger. “Oh god, Ollie I didn’t think you’d be here,” Roy blanched at the mention of her brother.

“We were just grabbing lunch before the board meeting. Felicity here is the new Head of Applied Sciences.”

“Congratulations, Felicity!”

“Yeah, good job Blondie.”

“Thanks, Roy. How have you and Thea been at the club?”

“Good,” Thea nodded with a smile.

“Thea, I have an idea that we might want to consider for Verdant. It’s more on the legal side, so could I come tomorrow before opening to discuss it with you?” Felicity asked before stealing one of Oliver’s fries.

“That sounds good. Maybe you can even tell me all the gossip that you heard about Ollie from the QC.”

When OTA finished up with their lunches, they had to head back to the office. “Hey, I’ll see you in there so don’t worry too much. You’ll have your chance to prove yourself later. This is just an introduction.” He gave a quick squeeze to her hand before exiting the elevator on his office’s floor.

When Felicity walked into the conference room opposite Oliver’s office for the board meeting, she was a ball of nerves. She took a few deep breaths before opening the door to let herself and her assistant in the room.  _Don’t worry Smoak. You’re a badass. You can get some old men to respect you. They have their assistants send their e-mails because they can’t,_ Felicity thought. Felicity smiled as she rounded the table, giving a handshake to each of the board members.

“Hello, Ms. Rochev,” Felicity gave her a stern handshake before she sat down, “I hope your day has been pleasant so far.”

“It should only get better after this meeting,” Isabel said as she gingerly took her hand from Felicity’s.

“Let’s get to business,” Mr. Collins said from the head of the table. “Mr. Queen, you called the meeting to introduce the new Head of Applied Sciences to us, is that correct?”

“Yes, it is, Mr. Collins.”

“Felicity, it says here,” Mr. Warren mumbled as he looked at the paper in front of him, “that you went to MIT.”

“Yes, I got a full ride scholarship at 16,” Felicity smiled, “after I finished my undergrad, I got a dual masters in computer science and cyber security.”

“You started at QC in 2009?” Isabel asked.

“Yes.”

“And last year you worked with Oliver Queen a lot?” Isabel continued to pry.

“What are you implicating, Ms. Rochev?” Felicity asked. Isabel opened her mouth, but Felicity kept going, “I helped Oliver because Walter Steele recommended that he see me after his laptop broke, and I helped him to get reacclimated with technology after being on an island for five years. He even asked me to help him with some tech in Verdant. So, Ms. Rochev, I have worked a lot with Oliver.”

“Miss Smoak is one of the brightest minds in her field and it would be a shame if another company were to take an interest in her before we got to see her vision for Applied Sciences,” Oliver said. Before he could continue, Isabel interrupted him.

“Didn’t you grow up in Las Vegas?”

“I don’t see why this is relevant to the board,” Mr. Collins said.

Isabel waved him off as she pressed on, “Your work since then as put you in the path of  _Starling City Royalty_. Some might not see that as an accident.”

Felicity sighed. “That was never my intention. Sure, it might have happened, but make no mistake, Ms. Rochev. My work can stand on its own from  _Starling City Royalty_  as you said. In fact, it has ever since I built my first computer at the age of seven. Can the same thing be said for you? I heard you were also close to  _Starling City Royalty_  in the beginning of your career.”

“Well, that settles things for today. Miss Smoak, I look forward to seeing your ideas presented at the next quarterly meeting. Until then, if you have any concerns, just send them to my assistant,” Mr. Collins said before Isabel could dig herself in a hole. All the board members were still looking to Isabel who was glaring at Felicity. She abruptly stood up and stomped to the door, heels clacking as her assistant trailed behind, looking just as put together.

“I look forward to seeing how Applied Sciences grows under your vision,” Mr. Warren said standing up.

“We’ll leave you two alone then,” Sophia said. She and Jane left the room, taking all their stuff with them. “Did you see that way he looks at her?” Sophia whispered as the door closed.

“My husband would give me that look a lot before he asked me out,” Jane smirked.

“That means he likes you. Mr. Collins tries to avoid Isabel as much as possible,” Oliver said to Felicity, ignoring what their assistants were whispering. “They all hate Isabel because they worked with my parents for so long. The Queen Money has helped many of these men at one time or another.”

“The Queen Money or the Dearden Money?” Felicity asked.

“Probably the Dearden. Not that these men would say that.”

“That’s the illusion they are all hanging onto. That a woman didn’t get them to where they are now.”

“Well,” Oliver said. He moved a stray piece of hair out of her face. “One very special woman has helped me get to where I am. And I don’t just mean off the island. You are the reason that I want to do things differently, and not just because of the Undertaking.”

**Author's Note:**

> jemmaacarters on tumblr


End file.
